Laura Borràs will avoid prison in exchange for a 25-hour course to prevent corruption
The TSJC suspends the prison sentence after the pardon, but she will continue to be disqualified for 13 years
BarcelonaThe former president of the Parliament Laura Borràs will be able to avoid going to prison on the condition of taking a 25-hour course on corruption prevention in public administration. Borràs was initially sentenced to four and a half years in prison and a total disqualification of 13 years for prevarication and document forgery for splitting contracts when she directed the Institution of Catalan Letters (ILC).
Following this conviction in March 2023, Borràs requested to benefit from the amnesty law, but the Supreme Court rejected it arguing that this law was not applicable to corruption crimes that have no relation to the Process. After that, Borràs received a partial pardon last July granted by the Spanish government, which reduced her prison sentence from four and a half years to two years. This partial pardon did not affect the 13 years of disqualification, which remain in force.
Finally, now the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) has suspended her entry into prison on the condition that she does not commit another crime in the next five years and that she participates in a "training program on specific content directly related to the ends that must guide the actions of public administrations". These programs are part of the penal measures alternative to prison, and there are different types depending on the type of crime.
An "excessive" sentence for the judges
The TSJC sentenced Borràs in March 2023 in a ruling where the magistrates themselves assessed that the prison sentence they had to impose was "disproportionate and excessive." The leader of Junts was convicted for favoring businessman Isaías Herrero with fragmented contracts, without following public procurement regulations, which total more than 300,000 euros and were formalized between 2013 and 2018.
Herrero also sat in the dock, as did businessman Andreu Pujol. Both benefited from a plea bargain with the Prosecutor's Office to obtain lower sentences as necessary accomplices, in which their confessions were taken into account as a mitigating factor, with which they incriminated Borràs.